Angry India protest boxer Sangwan’s defeat in London Olympics, complaint overruled

Young pugilist Sumit Sangwan put up a heroic performance against Brazil's Yamaguchi Falcao Florentino in the 81-kg category before losing his bout 14-15 in what looked to be a controversial decision in favour of the Brazilian, says a report in Hindustan Times, adding that the decision not only enraged the Indian contingent and sports minister Ajay Maken but also had them lodging an official protest, which the Minister confirmed through a tweet.

Sangwan, one of the bright youngsters on the Indian boxing scene, had an excellent third and final round, where he seemed to land way more punches than what he was given credit for. He came into the final round trailing by two points following the first two rounds going 5-4 and 5-4 in the favour of the seeded Brazilian. It was an evenly poised bout but the Indian did not seem to find favour with the referee, Greek Nikolaos Poutachadis.

Meanwhile The Times Of India reports that Sumit Sangwan's close 14-15 first-round loss to Brazilian Falcao Florentino raised the hackles in the Indian camp, which lodged an official protest against the decision. Sports minister Ajay Maken, seemingly upset at the way the 19-year-old Sangwan (81kg) was 'denied' points, particularly in the second round, told chef de mission PK Muralidharan Raja to lodge the protest.

Sangwan looked the better boxer in the first two rounds and clearly held the upper hand in the second but could not impress the judges who ruled in favour of the Brazilian 5-4 in both rounds. Even the commentators were surprised at the decision of the judges. A decision on the protest is expected on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Sumit's father, Surrender Sangwan too believes his son was undone by biased referring. "How did the Brazilian boxer win points when he was hiding in the corners?" the unhappy father reacted after Sumit's loss. "It's a game. Winning and losing is part of it but when they make someone win on the basis of wrong decisions then it does not leave a good effect on the athlete," he said.

According to a report in The Indian Express, an official protest lodged by India after a controversial defeat for boxer Sumit Sangwan was overruled on Monday night. The protest was lodged after Sangwan narrowly lost 14-15 to PanAmerican silver medalist Yamaguchi Falcao of Brazil in the first round of the light heavyweight (81kg) category despite appearing to land the most clear punches over the course of the contest.

Sangwan, 19, lost the first two rounds by margins of 5-4 each, although he took the last round 6-5.

IABF secretary and Chef-de-mission of the Olympic team, Brig Murlidhar Raja said that the protest was lodged specifically over the scoring in Round Two. “We thought Sangwan should have got more points in that round,” said Raja.